I fished today on the south side of miller island down towards the end of the island....got there around 3 and it was still real cloudy but by 4 the sun was out the swallows were out and the fish were smashing something on the top of the water. i started with my usual nymphs and below a yard indicator but didnt get hit. I noticed a few of these bugs coming off the water (see the pic below) but never saw a trout eat one.....im guessing they were choking on something else but im not sure what. After failing with the nymphs i started using a comparadun size 18 then a size 16 elk hair caddis (similar size to the bugs i was seeing) and had a few fish hit but but nothing steady....i started getting frustrated especially since i have been wearing em out lately. In an act of desperation or just boredom of watching the drift i tied on a black non weighted woolly bugger and started catching a fish every other cast..... they were all smallish but fun and almost all brookies. Im not sure there is anything dumber than a clinch brookie, but atleast they ate my hook.

im still a little confused what the trout were eating and im looking for insight. I dont think they were eating sulfers or any other largish hatch. so were they eating emergers or nymphs?

Essentially mayflies and many other aquatic insects are prone to swimming up from the stream bottom (often in masse) and allow the current to sweep them downstream... perhaps to areas with better feeding conditions or to move to an area better suited to true emergence. During this time these "swiming nymphs" are quite vulnerable to feeding trout that find them an easy meal.

Over the years I have noticed that in the weeks prior to various major hatches the use of nymphs that suggest behavior drift work like gangbusters. This past weekend I never tied on a dry or used a dry dropper rig but went immediately to a BHPT 34 inches under a palsa and didn't not stray from the strategy all day.

..i started getting frustrated especially since i have been wearing em out lately. In an act of desperation or just boredom of watching the drift i tied on a black non weighted woolly bugger and started catching a fish every other cast.....

im still a little confused what the trout were eating and im looking for insight. I dont think they were eating sulfers or any other largish hatch. so were they eating emergers or nymphs?

here is what was hatching about a size 16

You know what that pretty little gem is...

Go small on your indicator if you are using yarn as it can distract the fish this time of year. I prefer stickies right now as Corbo has turned me on to them.

Try these flies on a 2'-3' drop.

Black Fly with puff (reliable)

BWO Biot Nymph

October Caddis Nymph [Works great right now for a sulfur nymph] (Hottest for big trout on the bottom)

It was a pleasure fishing and chatting with you too! Hope you are having a good visit with your son!

Shawn,

I noticed on your list of flies BWO nymphs. Funny, I was talking to a guy Thurdsday afternoon at millers who said he ran into some BWo's on the left side of the island. I pulled what looked to be a sz 18 BWO nymph from my wading boot. Darker olive on its back side and lighter on the bottom side. It was very flat and even colored. No distinctly darker wing pads like the sulpher nymphs I am more familiar with. I have never seen BWO adults on the clinch. Anyone else witnessing some BWO's?

I noticed on your list of flies BWO nymphs. Funny, I was talking to a guy Thurdsday afternoon at millers who said he ran into some BWo's on the left side of the island. I pulled what looked to be a sz 18 BWO nymph from my wading boot. Darker olive on its back side and lighter on the bottom side. It was very flat and even colored. No distinctly darker wing pads like the sulpher nymphs I am more familiar with. I have never seen BWO adults on the clinch. Anyone else witnessing some BWO's?

Mike

I see them often when I am looking for them. However; they are not as prolific compared to some of the Upper E. TN Region. Also; they are usually in the clinger state when you find them-unless they have molted.

good idea on smaller indicator. Avoid the charteuse and TN Vol colors. If your using an indicator where there is no foam in the river you can always color the yarn gray with a marker. IF they start hitting your indicator more than the nymph, well then switch over the dry.

PS....false cast less, catch more.

Please remember to drop TWRA a line every now and then and thank them for the slots. What has been given, can be taken away.

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I am a great admirer of spectator sports, especially on television; it keeps the riffraff off the trout streams.

I see them often when I am looking for them. However; they are not as prolific compared to some of the Upper E. TN Region. Also; they are usually in the clinger state when you find them-unless they have molted.

Clingers are clingers and swimmers are swimmers.

Clinger type nymphs stay that way until they emerge and hatch into adults.

I would love to see Blue Wings come on, on the Clinch and have personally never seen an adult or a nymph anywhere on the river. That doesn't mean they aren't there, just that I have not personally seen one.

There used to be all sorts of weird hatches decades ago, but they seem to have waned over time. Naturally I don't fish much until summer, so they may still be happening for all I know.